At Teijin's press conference
in New York yesterday, the Japanese chemical company announced that big
US retailer Sears has partnered with them and will start selling on May
15 (in 500 stores) a washable business suit made from Teijin's Eco-A-Wear fabric.
The
fabric is composed of 54% recycled polyester, 42% wool and 4% stretched
spandex. Teijin's recycled polyester by the way is made from used
polyethylene terephtalate (PET) bottles. According to them it took 25
2-liter bottles to make one suit.
Sears will sell the jacket for $175 and the trousers for $75, which is not a bad price at all (according to the guys that I asked around and the gurus from a textile magazine).
Now
a washable, eco-friendly menswear suit doesn't seem appealing but when
I saw the suit and felt the fabric, I was amazed at how it looks and
feels the same as any typical traditional suit. The models look hot in
them! (as you can see in the pic).
And since it's washable, Teijin emphasized that there is no need to dryclean them which is a big plus in saving money and reducing the use of perchloroethylene.
Also at the conference, Teijin launched their Eco Circle closed-loop recycling technology for used polyester products such as garments, bags and curtains. When consumers want to discard these products they can go to retailers that have partnered with Teijin and have them recycled instead of dumping them in garbage - (maybe these retailers will even give discounts for those who faithfully recycle!).
Teijin have this really cute animation of how Eco Circle works in this link. Wish I could embed it on a video though.
Teijin mentioned yesterday that Sears are in talks with them about the Eco Circle program. Unfortunately, the recycling itself is only being done in Teijin's plant in Japan right now but if this catches (Teijin already have 100 company/organization participants worldwide), they will expand their capacity outside of Japan.
The company also emphasized that all recycling (from PET bottles to garments being sold, and used garments being recycled to polyester fabrics) are traced and accounted for by the company.
The
fabric is composed of 54% recycled polyester, 42% wool and 4% stretched
spandex. Teijin's recycled polyester by the way is made from used
polyethylene terephtalate (PET) bottles. According to them it took 25
2-liter bottles to make one suit.Sears will sell the jacket for $175 and the trousers for $75, which is not a bad price at all (according to the guys that I asked around and the gurus from a textile magazine).
Now
a washable, eco-friendly menswear suit doesn't seem appealing but when
I saw the suit and felt the fabric, I was amazed at how it looks and
feels the same as any typical traditional suit. The models look hot in
them! (as you can see in the pic).And since it's washable, Teijin emphasized that there is no need to dryclean them which is a big plus in saving money and reducing the use of perchloroethylene.
Also at the conference, Teijin launched their Eco Circle closed-loop recycling technology for used polyester products such as garments, bags and curtains. When consumers want to discard these products they can go to retailers that have partnered with Teijin and have them recycled instead of dumping them in garbage - (maybe these retailers will even give discounts for those who faithfully recycle!).
Teijin have this really cute animation of how Eco Circle works in this link. Wish I could embed it on a video though.
Teijin mentioned yesterday that Sears are in talks with them about the Eco Circle program. Unfortunately, the recycling itself is only being done in Teijin's plant in Japan right now but if this catches (Teijin already have 100 company/organization participants worldwide), they will expand their capacity outside of Japan.
The company also emphasized that all recycling (from PET bottles to garments being sold, and used garments being recycled to polyester fabrics) are traced and accounted for by the company.
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